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      "author": "steemitboard",
      "permlink": "steemitboard-notify-monstroz-20190510t003314000z",
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      "body": "Congratulations @monstroz! You received a personal award!\n\n<table><tr><td>https://steemitimages.com/70x70/http://steemitboard.com/@monstroz/birthday1.png</td><td>Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 1 year!</td></tr></table>\n\n<sub>_You can view [your badges on your Steem Board](https://steemitboard.com/@monstroz) and compare to others on the [Steem Ranking](http://steemitboard.com/ranking/index.php?name=monstroz)_</sub>\n\n\n**Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:**\n<table><tr><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/steemitboard-witness-update-2019-05\"><img src=\"https://steemitimages.com/64x128/http://i.cubeupload.com/7CiQEO.png\"></a></td><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/steemitboard-witness-update-2019-05\">SteemitBoard - Witness Update</a></td></tr></table>\n\n###### [Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1) to get one more award and increased upvotes!",
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      "body": "Amazing post. I am really happy, that people are still fascinated by such timeless works. Asian philosophy, in general, has some of the most universal truths ever written and Sun Tzu absolutely counts as one of the great philosophers despite only writing one book. Being able to speak about life, death, heavens and earth, by writing about war strategy is unthinkable for me how it was achieved. Asian philsophy is as mysterious as it is amazing. Thank you for this analysis and thank you for bringing it into popularity. If you are a fan of philosophy, i would be grateful if you could check my posts, friend. \nThank you and have a nice day.",
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      "title": "Acceptance of our shadow PART 2",
      "body": "![0716d48461c04478d312f4d77844747f4e965b97_hq.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPuxUWJbwQ9TTDgmRmgR3bJye8STEMBk5D8V9bci99KJh/0716d48461c04478d312f4d77844747f4e965b97_hq.jpg)\n\nFirstly, I apologize for the late post. Secondly, we need to remind ourselves where we left the discussion last time.\n\nOne always has a devil lurking behind us. This devil we have accepted to call the shadow. The shadow represents our fear, sadness and everything we have repressed throughout our life. This repression explodes and creates uncomfortable sensations, that we have categorized as psychological disorders in our modern terminology. \nWe left the discussion at what happens when we ignore the shadow.  Its the same as when a baby is ignored. It starts to cry and seeks our attention. The attention seeking is what creates the uncomfortable symptomatic we experience, such as depression, anxiety, panic and much more. How can we care for the baby? How can we love, what hurts us? This is what we are going to look at.\n\n## The baby, which seeks attention ##\n\nThere is one term called Misopedia. This means the hatred of one's own child and children in general. This condition can be developed after the birth of the child. When the baby constantly cries and deprives the parent of any sleep. One thinks of the child as a thing, which deprived us of our dreams, goals, freedom, and everything, which has to do with our individuality.  The child has nothing to do with our unhappiness, rather it seeks innocent attention and love. Absolutely the same can be said about our shadow. We give birth to it and we ignore it. Thus, it becomes louder and louder until it finally devours us whole. We become the angry slave, who is afraid of going out, speaking to people or flying on airplanes. Aggression bursts, depression episodes, bipolarity, everything is allowed by us and the shadow. It starts to control our actions and thoughts and we give to them. \nLet's go back to the baby. It cries and cries and cries. We get angry and start to do everything possible to calm it down. We make funny faces, we give it food, we play with it. The crying stops for a second and as soon as we stop it continues. What are we supposed to do? \nThe child is meant to cry. This is how it achieves everything it wants. From toys to attention to not going to school today. If we allow it, if we give into it, the crying just becomes more efficient. Thus, what is meant to be, should be let to be. If the child cries, accept it. Look it into its eyes and show your acceptance. CRY AS MUCH AS YOU WANT, I will simply love you... - Say to the child in your inner voice. Sooner or later, the child learns, that crying achieves nothing. It stops and learns to work with you, rather against you.  The child becomes our friend.\n![adult-affection-baby-236164.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNdpzbr7brPdtyUWy6kiNQZCt1Py3t5o7UU6V8Ci7AL4E/adult-affection-baby-236164.jpg)\n\n## The shadow is the child ##\n\nLet's look at an imaginary case. Person X has an anxiety disorder, which is mainly focused on agoraphobia and social anxiety.  The friends of person X invite him to the cinema. Anxious thoughts go through his head as he hears the offer.\nThe shadows start to whisper in his ear:\n-If you go to the cinema you are going to die. Stay at home. Don't go, you will need to interact with people. The cinema is dark and scary. You are going to have an anxiety attack if you go and embarrass yourself in front of everybody. You are sick and this kind of stuff is only for the healthy people. So stay at home, let's watch a movie alone. Let's play. Let's stay. \n\nAnd so person X says to his friends, that he would gladly go, but has some job to do and is not able to attend. The shadow won. Nothing of the above happens and so person X says: - I am so glad I didn't go. I was right to stay at home. \nThe shadow learns, that it can achieve everything now, simply by crying and whispering its won opinion.  In the future person X stops going outside altogether. The world is dangerous, people are dangerous. So now person X stays at home every day at watches Game Of Thrones, plays games and after a while develops depression. He becomes a slave in his own body, mind, and home. Person X was defeated...\n![curtain-hands-indoors-626164.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmfHGMEJes1vGT4NL7aDP85kPWpEVik4X2goQjo3feXho8/curtain-hands-indoors-626164.jpg)\n\n## How to win the battle with the invisible enemy? ##\n\nLet's assume now, that person X is a really enlightened person and one of his friends tells him:\n- My friend, I understand your problem but don't fight it, simply accept it. \n\nThis sentence echoes through the head of our protagonist and his willpower activates, remembers and promises to act in the future with on this premise. The next day his friends ask him if he wants to come to the mountain with them. The shadow creeps up to his shoulder and starts to sing its song in his ear:\n-A mountain is a dangerous place, there are surely people who will want to harm you. Don't go. Stay here. Don't emberass yourself by ruining your friends' holiday. You will not succeed. You will just fail. Stay at home. Watch Game of Thrones, play some games, do nothing. There is no way you can fail there. Stay home. Stay here.\n\nPerson X recognizes, that this is the shadow, who whispers. He remembers the words of his friend and simply breathes in and out accepting everything the shadow said. He lets the shadow be the shadow but does not identify with it, so he decides to go to the mountain. And so he goes.\nComing back from there was not easy. The shadow screamed the whole time. It was unhappy and made everything possible to show its unhappiness. Shaky legs, breathlessness, worries, obsessive thoughts, anxiety attacks. But this did not let our protagonist down. He accepted those symptoms because he knew that they were not his, but the shadows. \nThis scenario repeated a few times and the shadow grew tired. Everything it did was pointless. So it made a decision.\n-From now on, I will be your guard. I will tell you if I see something wrong and give you the power to act when needed. Until then my body, I will simply stay asleep.\nAnd so the shadow was accepted, and so the shadow became small. It stood by the shoulder of person X until the end of his times. Looking curiously upon the world and the people it once feared. It became wise and only spoke when it was absolutely necessary. \n\nThus the shadow was accepted.\nThus the story ends.\nAnd the conclusion, dear viewer is:\n\nDo not fight it, accept it. \n\n\nYours truly, \n\nMonstroz.\n\nThank you for reading.\n\n\nSources: \n(1) From the Manga \"Vagabond\" by Takehiko Inoue. ( I highly recommend it, one of the most philosophical mangas i have ever read)\n(2) https://www.pexels.com/photo/curtain-hands-indoors-light-626164/\n(3) https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-affection-baby-casual-236164/",
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      "title": "The acceptance of our shadow  PART 1",
      "body": "![fancycrave-219668-unsplash.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYpt8KKpWoVc9rU8ZdWy5AXNMg6q4LDYB38SALjqhvAhV/fancycrave-219668-unsplash.jpg) \n\n\n## Introduction ##\n\n I have a beatiful history of panic attacks, depression and anxiety disorder and one of the most frequent advice i received was: \"Accept it, don't fight it and it will pass.\"  \n\nOf course, for those of you who have experienced panic or anxiety, you know how demotivating it is to hear such an advice and also how hard it is to actually do it in a state of panic or fear. \n\nYet slowly i come to understand this sentence better and better and i want to share it with you guys. \n\n## The Shadow ##\n\nWARNING:(The \"Shadow\" is a term coined by and used mainly by Jungian Psychology. I will not remain 100% true to the terminology and thus will advice everyone interested in precisely Jungian Psychology to look elsewhere. This is my own humble understanding.)\n\nPeople say to accept, but accept what? I do believe that the \"what\" is the shadow mentioned throughout the whole post.  So let's look at it.\n\nThe first important step in accepting the shadow is actually defining the shadow. So what is it? \n\nThe shadow is simply the blockage of light and the reflection of the object blocking the source. \n \nBy this definition two new terms arise.\n\nThe light and the object blocking it.\n\nI find it quite reasonable to define the light as the love source and the shadow the fear, as both of this emotions are the ground basis for everything else. The two primordial, the yin and the yang. The object is the I. The person experiencing life, or the light and shadow.\n\nThus, the shadow is something we fear and the light is something we love. \nThe next step is to recognize what the light and shadow represent in our individual life. It is an absolute fact that love and fear differ from person to person. One person can love the snake, while another fears it. \nBut we are not speaking of such trivial things of course so what are possible shadows ? \n\nIt is crucial to understand that symptoms, such as: migraine, breathlessness, panic, fear, sadness, depression and even diseases such as schizophrenia, bipolar and even cancer (quite a strong saying i know)  DO NOT represent the shadow.\n\nEvery symptom or disease are a message to us. So even if we cure ourselves of the symptoms or diseases, but do not understand the message, then new ones will surely come. This time they can be even worse.\n\nThe message itself is really hard to describe, as it is more than often a really subjective and intrinsic feeling. But examples for that real shadows are: the fear of growing up, the fear of dying, the fear of being vulnerable, the fear of being loved, the fear of success, the fear of being the best and many many more.\n\nReading them like this may sound funny and ridiculous, but as i said it is quite subjective.\n\nOne can have the fear of death and thus panic in every situation, which reminds him of it. One can have the fear of hurting somebody and thus get a migraine in this kind of situations. One can have fear of society and becoming a part of it and thus develop schizophrenia. The possibilities are as endless as the personalities in history. \n\n## Accept  <div class=\"pull-right\"> ![Karl_Emanuel_Jansson_-_Old_Woman_in_a_White_Bonnet_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYKuZ1n3mEGduwABBVmgvsugzziJrJee2BpPz4QiPiB1E/Karl_Emanuel_Jansson_-_Old_Woman_in_a_White_Bonnet_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)</div> \n\nWhat is the first thing one will do if he sees a monster ? \nRun of course   \nNow imagine, that you see your own shadow as the monster. \n\nIf there were no consequences to escaping the monster, then we would not speak about this topic in the first place.\nBut there are two main problems.\n1) You cannot escape your own shadow.\n2) The shadow is part of you and needs recognition as well.\n\nWhat does a baby do, when it needs attention?\nIt starts to cry.\nSo....\nWhat does your shadow do when it needs attention? \n\n\n\nP.S. This is the end of the first part. I want to try something different. As i spoke with different people i came to understand, that maybe i am writing too long, so i will divide this post in two parts. If there are any good citizens reading this, then please do not hesitate to give your opinion on this matter. Is long better than short or ?\nWith love,\nMonstroz.\n\n\nSources: \n1) Photo by Fancycrave on Unsplash\n2) https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiedosto:Karl_Emanuel_Jansson_-_Old_Woman_in_a_White_Bonnet_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg",
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      "title": "The beauty of eastern philosophy",
      "body": "@@ -15463,8 +15463,530 @@\n 2071.JPG\n+%0A%0ASources: Image 1) https://www.pexels.com/photo/cherry-blossom-92340/%0AImage 2) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stone_Cutter_MET_DP818428.jpg%0AImage 3) https://pixnio.com/sport/fishing-and-hunting/silhouette-of-fisherman-on-the-sea-water-in-sunset%0A%0APodcasts - Sam Yang- %22The Stonecutter and the Tao of Rock-Paper-Scissor.%22 https://tunein.com/radio/Must-Triumph-p1118131/?topicId=121264145%0ADr. Robert Puff - http://www.happinesspodcast.org/%0ABoth of them are great speakers and interesting minds. I do recommend them.\n",
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      "body": "Thank you for your post. \nI  was able to identify myself in it.\nWhich is a rare and beautiful feeling.\nThus, thank you and I do wish you all the best in your dreams. \nYours truly,\nMonstroz.",
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      "title": "The beauty of eastern philosophy",
      "body": "https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmfNJBUY4mvD5QEhrY4nhpj3TcNhdQTXRNM7j8rkzuAMdR/blooming-blossoms-cherry-blossom-92340.jpg\n\nTwo of the people, who inspired me to study philosophy are definitely Lao Tzu (or Laozi) and Confucius. They, together with Aristotle and Nietzsche, were my first authors who opened the door to philosophical knowledge for me.  As I go further into my studies I start to see more and more differences between the two schools of philosophy, if I may call them so. The west vs the east (coast mothaf**ka).\nThus in this short post, I would like to show you the beauty of eastern philosophy and why I find it so different than its counterpart. \nLet's begin my dear viewer.\n\n# The meaning of the circle #\nThe main differences between western and eastern philosophy are the goals and ways towards their achievement. \nAntique Western philosophy up until Medieval Philosophy tried to answer questions of immortality, sin, God, and virtues. It discussed the meaning of life as a strive towards a better moral and closeness to God. Another typical trait of western philosophy is its deduction and categorization, which continues strong up to this day. \nIf we take a modern western philosophical school, such as phenomenology, we will see the will to deduct reality in its purest form and details. To deduct an experience and categorize it as such and such and so and so. To categorize phenomena and put them in their labeled ontological drawers. \nThe man is rational in western philosophy. The man is individual. Logic dictates actions and thoughts. And the end? The end is one. The end is linear. \n\nEastern Philosophy, on the other hand, believes in unity. God is in the material world, as the material and spiritual world is entangled. Only one reality exists. Nothing can be labeled as everything is one. Nothing can be deducted, because \"if you focus on the leaf, you miss the tree, if you focus on the tree, you miss the forest\" ( a lazy attempt to quote Monk Takuan's work \"The Unfettered Mind\"). Seeing everything in its wholeness is encouraged.  Every religion has the same core. Man and woman are only man and woman when they are together. Individuality is pointless, as you are the same as the leaf, stone, tree, boulder, forest, mountain, God and Universe. And the End? The End is infinite. The End is simply a circle. \n\nThe Eastern Philosophy encourages acceptance, whereas its counterpart - control. \nThe reason for this is, in my opinion, the judging God and Society. In western culture, there is always a Judge, no matter the religion. Your actions, your thoughts, your life is based upon rules dictating your behavior and the end result... Heaven or Hell.  \nThis linearity and judgment can make a person go crazy. Feeling suffocated in his own sand clock as he falls into the abyss, waiting to see if he did well on earth. Keeping this in mind, it is fully logical, that man will try to think hard in order to become the best version of himself and fight off the chains of religion and social judgment.\n\nIn eastern philosophy, there is no judge. Only man can judge himself. The circle of life also gives hope and power, which encourages one to accept his life and do the best he can to enjoy it, rather than fight it. You will be granted another one, so whats the point of wanting to change this one? \n\n# The Stonecutter and the Fisherman #\n\nRecently I listened to one podcast, which inspired me to think about this topic and eventually write about it.\nThe podcast is called \"The Stonecutter and the Tao of Rock-Paper-Scissors\" by Sam Yang. ( I will post the link at the end of the post, so do check it out. )\nIn this podcast, the author tells a really interesting comparison between two stories, which I would like to retell (more amateur and in my own style, I'm sorry  : C) in the interest of this topic. \n\n### The Stonecutter. ###\nhttps://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRVJpWLYg5UhZ5okjanJ2KxZwPZVZj3KqhcGGHb7zcCeP/Stone_Cutter_MET_DP818428.jpg\nA man who worked as a Stonecutter once went to the mountain in search of boulders to cut. There he suddenly came to meet a powerful mountain spirit, who suddenly appeared before him, telling him that every wish he makes will manifest itself into reality and just as suddenly disappeared afterward. The man astonished, continued his work thinking of how crazy he has become. Finished for the day, with the rocks sold for little money, the poor stonecutter bought a bowl of rice and went home. As he chewed on the rice he grew angry of the tastelessness of his food and screamed:\n-I WISH I HAD A NORMAL DINNER.\nIn his surprise, the spirit answered.\n-Your wish was heard and so was it granted.\nBefore the man appeared so much food, that he never even dreamed of.\n Happily, the man fell asleep.\nOn the next day, he went to work again and the sun was brutally hot. The poor stonecutter saw a prince passing by carried by his slaves in a silk carriage, which protected him from the sun. Again, angered by his fate the stonecutter screamed:\n-I WISH I WAS A PRINCE!!\n-Your wish was heard and so was it granted.- responded the mountain spirit.\nSuddenly the stonecutter was a prince, with servants and wind blowers, beautiful women and no responsibilities at all.  He was happily carried around the village, but at some point, the strong sun had burned his face. Angered, the stonecutter screamed:\n-WHAT DOES IT THINK IT IS THIS SUN! DOES IT THINK IT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN I?!? I WISH I WAS THE SUN!\n-Your wish was heard and so was it granted.\nAnd so the stonecutter became the sun. Angry and furious he sends beams across the land. But at one point a cloud  blocked him and he got even more furious:\n-WHAT DOES IT THINK IT'S DOING THIS STUPID CLOUD. DOES IT THINK IT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN I?!!??! I WISH I WAS A CLOUD!!\n-Your wish was heard and so it was answered. \nAnd so the stonecutter was transformed into a cloud. He went back and forth. Blowing wind here and there. Pouring rain over everything he saw, until he poured rain and blew wind over a rock, which declined to move. Angry did he shout: \n-WHAT IS THIS ROCK DOING!? DOES IT THINK IT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN A MIGHTY CLOUD?!? I WISH I WAS THE ROCK!\n-You wish was heard and so was it granted.\nAnd the stonecutter became the stone. He sat there angry and almighty, until one day a stonecutter came and started chopping at him. He chopped and chopped until he broke the stone in half. The stone finally understood and calmly asked.\n-I do wish I was a man again.\n-Your wish was heard and you will be a man once more. \nAnd so the cycle was complete. The poor stonecutter finally understood his meaning and continued to live his life with a smile, until the day he died.\nThe End.\n\n\n\n### The Fisherman and the Goldfish ###\nhttps://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWpbpjxDm9vbm7v2FdHyR3Ze7yD7hwBEEqVS8sDUBpxCr/silhouette-of-fisherman-on-the-sea-water-in-sunset.jpg\n\nOnce lived a humble old fisherman with his wife. Both of them lived in an old hut near the river.\nOne day the fisherman went to work and to his surprise, he did not manage the catch anything the whole day.\nJust before he gave up he caught a small goldfish. Just as he was about to pull her in the little fish spoke in his language:\n-Dear Fisherman, I am a magical fish and I grant wishes. Please do spare my life and I will grant you one wish.\nThe old man surprised and confused answered back:\n-Dear Fish, I hold no grudge against you and I hold no deep desire you are free to go. \nAnd so he let the fish back in the water.\nAs he went back home, his old wife saw he had no catch and asked him: \n-Why didn't you manage to catch anything? What did you do all day? \n-The water was fast today- replied the fisherman- but I did manage to catch a magical goldfish. It said it will grant me wishes if I put it back in the water. Yet, I didn't feel like wishing for anything.\n-You old fool! - Screamed the old lady - Look at what poverty we live in. Go and ask the fish to give us a good house at least.\nAnd so the fisherman went on the next day to ask the golden fish for a wish. He sat and sat near the river bench and suddenly the goldfish came.\n-What is bothering you, o humble fisherman? What can I do for you? \n-You see, dear fish, my wife is not happy with our lives, please do grant us a beautiful and big house. - asked the fisherman\n-So it is done. Go back and see for yourself.\nWhen the old man went home, he was greeted by a big green garden full of farm animals, beautiful doors, and amazing architecture. His old wife was standing there, jumping and smiling.\nBut only after a few days she grew unhappy again.\n-This house is pointless if we don't have money and servants. Go and ask the fish.\n-I don't think it is necessary- replied the old man.\n-Go you fool, she is surely going to grant you such a small wish.\nAnd so the fisherman went and spoke with the fish. When he came back he saw a full house and a big wagon full of gold coins.\nThe old wife was silent, but for a short while. After a few days she came with a new demand:\n-These coins were spend fast and the servants don't do much anyway for the house. Go and ask the fish for a castle with a big treasury and a lot of servants. Cooks, cleaners, jugglers and so on.\n-This is too much.- replied the old humble man- we need not so many stuff.\n-Go you fool or I will leave you.\nAnd so the man went and so was his wish granted again. He came back to a big castle with a lot of servants and gold. Yet the granny was still unsatisfied. Her lust for power grew larger.\n-It is pointless to have a castle without being a king and queen. --she commented- Go and ask the fish this small favor.\n-I refuse.- said the old wary man- There is no stop to this.\n-Go or you are not gonna live here anymore!\nAnd so went the fisherman to the river again.\n-O fish, my friend. I have another wish to make.\n-What is it this time?- asked the fish angered. \n-My wife wishes to be the queen of this kingdom.- Said the fisherman calmly. \n-This is too much. Go back to your home!   \nAnd so the fisherman went back home, but for his astonishment, he saw his old poor hut and his wife seating at the front porch. \nIt is said, that they live so until this day.\nThe End.  \n\n# And the moral of the story is... #\n\nBoth of this stories resemble the same message, but with a different approach. If you are not familiar with any of them, try to guess, which one accounts to western culture and which one to eastern.\nTake a break.\n\nThe stonecutter is the eastern version of the Goldfish story, originally written by Pushkin. Both stories strive to show, that one should be happy with what one has. The Stonecutter story shows it by enabling the man to relive different types of existence, thus coming to the conclusion, that his own is actually the best one. He comes to this conclusion trough himself. We can say, that he became enlightened. There was no one to judge him for his actions, no one to punish him for his decisions, but himself.\nThe goldfish story shows in a way the same scenario. The exception is that the old woman's choices are judged by the fish and are also taken away by the fish. The conclusion of the lesson does not come through self-understanding, but rather trough punishment, which is typical for our western culture.\nThus I come to my first important message from this post.\n\n### In eastern philosophy you are the master and teacher of yourself. You are the one who is supposed to understand how to cherish one's life. Accept what is and love what is.  _(this saying is something i got addicted to by Dr. Robert Puff podcasts. That is how he ends them. Will link them down below.)_ That is the message of eastern teachings ###\n\n# The shortest time is sometimes achieved by the shortest road. #\n\nAnother thing I love about eastern philosophy is the way it presents itself. Of course, every school differs in its methodology of teaching. But one thing they have in common is **simplicity**.\nSimplicity should not be confused with language limitation. Under language limitation I mean, that if one idea is not presented in, for example, four books, then the idea is not well presented. In my opinion, an idea can be perfectly presented in one sentence. That in itself is an art.  \nOne could say, that it is rather abstract, and one could be right about that. But in this abstract and poetic world of eastern philosophy, one can find many truths and many lessons, which are typically really hard to understand and express. \n\nTo underline this point, let's look at two quotes. One from Confucius and one from Lao Tzu. \n\n### Confucius. ###\n\"When the mind is not at its place, we look, but do not see; we hear, but do not understand; we eat, but we do not know the taste of the food. This shows that the perfection of man hangs close with the clear mind.\" (Translated by me from \"Confucius\" by Richard Wilhelm, p. 82, publisher Bibliothek \"Immortal Thoughts\", Sofia, the year 1941)\n\nThis is the first type of eastern philosophy. Done by short metaphors, mostly found in dialogues with teacher and student.\n\nOne famous example of this is as follows:\n\nJi Lu (a student of Confucius) once asked the teacher why they never spoke about ghosts, demons, and creatures from the afterlife. Why didn't they learn about death in general? To this the teacher responded:\n-You haven't understood life yet and you want to understand death? \n(As recreated by my mind from the time I read this) \n\nAs you can see, dear viewer, both of these are simple sentences, which entail a lot of truth in them. I will not go further to interpret them, as I think they are obvious and if not, you are your teacher, I am simply the messenger. \n\n### Lao Tzu ###\n\nAs I write this sentence I have the book from Lao Tzu in front of me. \nNow I will randomly open it and write the first lesson I see.\n\nSo it goes:\n\n\"The Path (Dao) is beyond the senses and the memory. The Path is the source of the whole world. How can I understand the source of the world? - By accepting it.\" (Translated by me from the book \"The Path\" by Lao Tzu, page 74, published by FAMA, Sofia, year 2011, ISBN 978-954-597-409-0) \n\nAgain I will not interpret it, I simply want to show you the beauty of this short sentences. Read them slowly and enjoy them. Breathe together with the words. Accept them and deny them. Remember them and forget them. Because:\n\n\"Who doesn't want anything, has everything.\" (Lao Tzu) \n\n\n### The circle comes to an end ###\n\nI think this post became too long and I hope I did some justice to the beauty of eastern philosophy. I really want you to delve deeper into the philosophy of Confucianism, Taoism,  Sun Tzu, Mozi, Zhuangzi and many more. I do hope I return to them. As everything that they worked upon can be traced into today's world. Manga, Video Games, Animes, Movies, Books and most importantly __*Life*__. \n There is much more to discuss. Questions which I would ask myself are: \nThe Socratic dialogues are similar to those of Confucius. What are the differences? \nCan you really categorize philosophy? Is it not one? \nWhy do we divide the two? \nThere are many western thinkers who said similar stuff. What are the differences? \n\nand last but not least some questions to you dear viewer. \n\nDo you agree with my points? \nWhat is your favorite philosophy school? \nIs everything besides western philosophy, philosophy at all? \nand \nmost\nimportantly\nHow was your day?\n\nYours truly,\nMonstroz.\nhttps://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUy9mfTGQVTcXvKAc1vaZsgaakVXQe557L2qvg4tAVcQa/_MG_2071.JPG",
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      "title": "The meaning of (video) games",
      "body": "<html>\n<p>https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVwCHM8DVL6GhRqgUvpKzsJN9gFgCGnZHcn5mNLkQKXBy/joystick-3273842_1280.png </p>\n<p>Again, with my introduction in mind, it would be time to write about gaming and what i see in it. So, consider this a introduction of philosophy of gaming and what to expect in the future.</p>\n<h2>The meaning of video games</h2>\n<p>It would be superficial to say that games have only the goal to entertain you. I would like to make the analogy (and i will make it a lot in the future) between video games and books. We can, of course, say that books have in goal to entertain us, but if we divide them in subcategories, like cooking, self-improving, philosophy, engineering, romance and so on, we can clearly see a different goal in every kind of book. The self-improving books aim to teach us how to care and improve our personality. The horror books aim to scare and excite us. The philosophy books aim to make us think and question everything. The psychology books aim to give us a better understanding of the self and its problems.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>We can then combine two different sub-categories in one. For example psychological-horror book aims to scare us trough the most personal fears a human can have: his body, mind, sanity etc. A philosophical-romance book aims to enable us to relieve a love story, which concludes in a lesson about life. We can go on and on, but i think the idea is clear.</p>\n<p>Lets look at games as a medium, which combines all of this and enables us to be the writer. This is for me a video game. It is truly pointless if we perceive games of the like: \"The secret of monkey island\"; The souls series; \"Elder-scrolls\"; \"Bioshock\"; The Hitman series etc. as simply medium to entertain us.</p>\n<p>If we look at games this way, we will miss out the lessons they teach us. And this is also an analogy to the books. Books exists to teach us something. Either how to cook, how to not make the mistakes the person made, how to love, how to win money and other superficial stuff, so do games teach us as well.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>Films have the same role, they let us relieve a certain lesson. But here comes the bold main point i want to discuss in future posts as well.&nbsp;</p>\n<p><strong>Gaming is the most sufficient way to learn about life, death, cooking, surgery and everything we can possibly think of. Gaming surpasses books, movies, comics, magazines in any way possible.</strong></p>\n<p>This sentence will not be proved in this post. It is too big of a claim for one post to suffice. So lets go on the next sub-chapter of this post.</p>\n<h2><strong>League of legends does not entail the meaning of life you stupid writer !</strong></h2>\n<p>You are quite right my dear viewer! But saying that League of Legends has the meaning of life is the same as saying that the cooking book of Gordon Ramsay entails a philosophical answer to not fear death.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>This is the reason categories exist. Every category says something about the aim of the product. And here i will try to digest all the categories in to only three. The Green, yellow and red. So let's look at them.</p>https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWssg5Wccc2DvtpFPrQThkKkXk3ex28ukr688fX5u3YE8/13168243845_004321551f_b.jpg!\n<p>The Green Category: This represents games, which were made with a lot of love and care. In them we can find hidden symbolic from literature and popular ideas. The goal of this games are to wrap you in their world and show you the meaning they have created. Such games are considered either hidden gems or game of the year (in the year they were published). As movies have cinematography tricks, so do games have tricks up their sleeves they need to master in order to be high quality: Difficulty, camera movement, dialogue, story writing and many more (which i will present in further posts). Green category games always have mastered at least one of the tricks. Masterpieces are considered those who have mastered most of them. Witcher 3 is a good example, but it can still be criticized.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>WARNING: A SUBJECTIVE OPINION INCOMING !!!</p>\n<p>Such games to give an example are: The Witcher series, The souls series, Thief 1-2-3, Lucasarts point and click games, Elder-Scrolls, Age of Empires II, SystemShock, Stronghold, Starcraft, Ori and the Blind Forest, The Last of Us, Half-Life, Uncharted, Divinity Original Sin (as well as the old ones, without beyond evil),Castlevania SOFN, Journey, some Zelda games &nbsp;and many many more.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>It would be interesting to comment on why they are masterpieces, but i will maybe to one of them per post explaining the philosophy, psychology and masterfully made tricks.</p>\n<p>If you have anything you would add, please do write in the comments. It would be interesting to discuss.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRXrzuUuMzyBX79nGxLZaxE7JSVC2ZHeygs9gfK2pa4VE/31049262986_99489136c3_b.jpg!The Yellow Category: This represents games, which were made either to win a lot of money or with the idea to experiment in a really radical way with no success. A good example is the Call of Duty franchise. Although it was revolutionary at one point, because of how it mastered the shooting mechanics (and in some cases the story) it fell short on its nose by becoming a generic generating money machine. The goal of this games are to wrap you in a play cycle, which doesn't reward you with anything but the basics. Points, high-scores, customization etc. Most of the time finishing yellow category games doesn't reward you with any particular feeling other than \"meh\". &nbsp;Maybe they have a good beginning, a nice mid-game and a bad climax. Maybe they are too easy or the storytelling is really boring and predictable. Whatever the reason this games either generate money, only thanks to their name or they die in obscurity.</p>\n<p>WARNING: A SUBJECTIVE OPINION INCOMING!!!</p>\n<p>Such examples are: Diablo 3, Call of Duty (everything after black ops), No Mans Sky, Hunt Down the Freeman, almost all of the new EA titles, Duke Nukem Forever, Sacred 3 and many others.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdc7Ygjcmeuuv6SKjqxL7Mo4i1x6t5Kvo3VUDQRRhnADK/15839810880_6d8e9f00db_b.jpg The Red Category: This represents games, which were made with the only with the goal to keep you playing and rewarding you with absolutely nothing. Most of the games, which are popular today are in this category and the reason for this is that the creators have mastered the way to keep you playing, despite everything you hate about the game. The way this kind of games work is similar to how facebook works. Let's take League of Legends for example (i need to admit i played this game for 8 years and was a ranked maniac, but this logic made me understand my idiocy). You do the same thing over and over. You go in a game, farm, fight, win or lose. At the beginning its fun, especially when you are playing with friends,because this gives the feeling of being social and thus productive. Afterwards, when you get to ranked games you repeat the cycle with the difference, that this times you have points which go up or points which go down and sometimes you get a flashy DIAMOND or MASTER. After every game you get a dopamine hit if you win. The logical thing is that you would like to reproduce this feeling, so you play again. This time you lose and the next logical thing is to play again in order to win, in order to get your points back. So you go into the loop of playing at least 4 games a day (which was definitely optimistic for me). The next thing which is important is a connection between your personality and the game. Here comes cosmetics. By making your account connected to your personality, like for example having all Chinese skins, it becomes harder for the person to detach from the game and to leave it. Most of the time cosmetics are bought with money, which makes the account a sort of investment and this only adds further to the problem of detaching. The games in the red category have as well perfected the thing they are supposed to do for example: Hearth Stone has perfected the card mechanics. League of Legends and DOTA characters and their inter-actions with each other. Overwatch- combination of MOBA and FPS. And so on and so on.</p>\n<p>WARNING: A SUPER OFFENSIVE SUBJECTIVE OPINION INCOMING!!!</p>\n<p>Such examples are: League of Legends, DOTA, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Smite, Warhammer Vermintide, Counter Strike, WOW, TeamFortress and many more.</p>\n<p>Lets conclude: The Green category games are created by love to be loved. The Yellow category games are either created by love, but not well enough, or are created to generate money by trying to become mainstream and using their name. The Red category games are only made to generate money in a psychology loop.</p>\n<h2><strong>What is the message of this post?</strong>&nbsp;</h2>\n<p>The end result of this post is to conclude the meaning of video games as such: A medium, which is created to enrich a persons life by enabling him to live an impossible fantasy life, read a story, overcome difficulties, love, hate, fear and think from a first-person perspective with the end goal of: either to stay in silence and tears after the end of the story, to stay in silence and disappointment or to stay in silence and give your money away. I would like to create to important question to work as our basis for gaming analysis. What is the meaning of the game and in which category should it be put? I do believe that this could create a big door for argumentation and improvement.!&nbsp;</p>\n<p>All this is just the fundamental part i want us to have in order to digest games more deeply. I would also love to digest games requested from you dear viewer.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>Until we see each other in the comments i wish you a nice and pleasant gaming day.</p>\n<p>Yours truly,&nbsp;</p>\n<p>Monstroz.</p>\n<p>Image sources:&nbsp;</p>\n<p>1) https://pixabay.com/en/joystick-nes-video-game-3273842/ 2)https://www.flickr.com/photos/bagogames/13168243845 <br>\n3) https://www.flickr.com/photos/bagogames/31049262986 4)https://www.flickr.com/photos/downloadsourcefr/15839810880</p>\n<p><br></p>\n</html>",
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      "body": "<html>\n<h2>I am born, so what now ?</h2>\n<p>Considering, that this is the first post after my introduction, i thought it would be appropriate to write, speak and discuss on what the meaning of life is or why we keep waking up for the next day.</p>\n<p>This is a really cheesy philosophical question, which has been digested so many times, it doesn't even look like a proper question now. BUT it is still the beginning question of our philosophical and psychological journey and generally the map of the island called \"LIFE\".</p>\n<p>What should you expect from this, dear viewer ? Basically just a conversation on why you are alive and what are you doing or planning to do towards your death.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>So lets begin.</p> </html>https://steemitimages.com/DQmbWqmiKhLhraUNBBXw72wTEbEiLm9nJDKfLhe7yoaA2H9/ballpen-blank-page-book-193340.jpg\n<h2>I am lost, tell me where to go...</h2>\n<p>Lets look at our life from a really superficial point of view. We come from nothingness, at least consciously, and are thrown into a crazy and chaotic world, with only our parents (if we are lucky) to guide us in the first years of our life. Our livelihood is absolutely dependent on the mother's organism until we mature enough and are able to survive alone (food, water, hygiene etc.). Our actions are driven by food and security, until we develop the most beautiful skill of curiosity and exploration, which opens the doors to the world and life.</p>\n<p>If, again, we are lucky enough to have the possibility to ask questions we come to a point where we need to decide, why we were brought to this world. If we are not lucky, our actions, thoughts and dreams are simply propagated to us and we follow this path until we die or undergo a drastic transformation.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>So where does this puts us ? We have two possible scenarios for our life in context of the above mentioned information. Lets look at them.</p>\n<p>First scenario:<em> </em><em><strong>\"Don't study physics, you won't earn any kind of money!\"</strong></em><em> \"Art is just a luxury, it won't feed your family!\" </em><em><strong>\"Look at [person x] he is doing so well, why don't you try it?!\"</strong></em><em> &nbsp;\"Don't touch that, don't run, don't speak nonsense...\" </em><em><strong>\"Our country needs brave people to defeat the enemy! Join now!\"...</strong></em><em>&nbsp;</em></p>\n<p>We are thought how to live, but we haven't learned how to live. This are two different things. To be thought means to be given strict rules dictating life. To learn means to individually search for the force driving us into the future. The dictation is done trough culture, family, friends, society, famous individuals, books, games, movies and everything else, which pours information into our heads, including this post. The problem of this scenario is that most of the time we put little to no effort in recognizing if this fits our life, our individuality or our purpose, but on the other hand it is an easy way to achieve meaning and get a purpose in life.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>WARNING: Side effects might include: Unsatisfactory relationship. Bad habits. Meaningless job. Chance of going depressed, realizing the meaninglessness of our achievements.</p>\n<p>Second scenario. We were given the opportunity to get lost and to make mistakes. To be able to decide after high-school, that we want to try painting, but failing miserably, to decide next, that we want to study law, but to not be able to comprehend the difficulty of law terminology, rules etc. To decide, that maybe we just want to escape society and then return back to it. To do mistakes, until in the end we just simply decide to open a small bar in a forgotten street of a big city. All this gives us the opportunity to go back to the childish curiosity and &nbsp;view the world as a sandbox, without rules or boundaries. But we humans are creatures of order and security, so in the end we will always find a routine, but this routine will hopefully fit our frame of consciousness.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>WARNING: Side effects might include: No motivation. Feeling of unworthiness. Small achievements compared to others.&nbsp;</p>\n<h2>The frame of consciousness ?!?!</h2>\n<p>Here we come to the first problem on this topic. What is a frame of consciousness and does it exist ? We can look divide the explanation into two fields. Esoteric/Philosophical and Scientific/Psychological.</p>\n<p>The abstract one: We are energy. We are the universe. We are small gods, who decided to have fun in the material realm. Our whole structure and existence is only possible trough the blueprints of the universe. A famous saying putting things into perspective is: </p>https://steemitimages.com/DQmV6QWBmbkGiv6tVjtiH76EVEj35fgJMtodgdfctmQ9saj/8twFaNh.jpg\n<p>This way of thinking focuses on our individuality, giving us a special meaning, an important role. Thus the first milestone in this approach. <em>Seek not for meaning in the external world, but in the inner. The meaning is you.&nbsp;</em></p>\n<p>Combining this with the first and second scenarios presented above, we have:&nbsp;</p>\n<p>First scenario. I was a plant in a pot. The window showed a different word, but my place was in the pot.</p>\n<p>Second scenario. I was a free bird, a flower, not in a pot, but in nature. I could spread my seeds everywhere and only the sky was my limit. Through the opportunity of exploration i was able to find the spot on the ground, which is perfect for me to grow and die.</p>\n<p>The scientific explanation of the frame of consciousness: We have all heard the words genetics and determinism ( or for simplifying it, fate). This two words could be perfectly enough to explain the conscious framework trough science. Our individuality is constituted by the genes of our ancestors, thus we can view ourselves as a new, improved version of a previous individual. &nbsp;There is a high probability, that if the parents are intellectuals, their children will be as well. The same applies for the negatives. If the parents &nbsp;are prone to alcoholism, so are the children. After genetics comes evolution. Our first purpose on this planet was survival (many will argue, that this is still the only meaning to life, but i do find it quite boring.) and this purpose still shapes a lot of our actions, decisions and thoughts. For example why do we like certain things and not others ? A famous theory presented by Tom Vanderbilt in his books: \"You may also like: Taste in an Age of endless choice\" and \"Traffic: Why we drive the way we do\" says, that we survived by observing the consequences of the actions of our neighbors. &nbsp;If i have an apple and i have a stone, i look at my neighbor and observe, that he eats the apple and doesn't die and another one who tries to eat the stone and breaks all his (like two left) teeth. I will of course eat the apple.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>This method evolved as did society, but in the end i still think it is quite obvious in modern times. Why is certain music so popular? Why are there trends ? We continue to do that, which benefits the others, with the idea, that it will benefit us.</p>\n<p>So lets try to use this in our first and second scenario:&nbsp;</p>\n<p>First scenario: \"My parents are lawyers and they earn a lot of money, they seem happy and fulfilled. I rarely see them, but when i do they always gift me something. My father always told me, that he will be proud of me if i follow his footsteps. One of my friends from school went to study game design, but my parents said its stupid and profitless, compared to helping people and saving lives. So i ended up studying law. It was hard and boring, but everyone told me, that it will be worth it. Thus i became rich and constantly busy, without time for my children and wife. But that's life. Work hard to be someone. Or was i wrong ?\"</p>\n<p>Second scenario: \"My mother and father got divorced, because my mother kept drinking and my father was never at home. I ended up with my mother, but she didn't have much time for me, so i grew up on the street with my friends. We smoked, drank and at one point as we grew up, everyone found something to do. I felt lost and scared. I kept drinking and smoking alone, but at one point i met a girl. She was interested in Art and just went to university. I tried university, i tried Art, but it didn't work out. I got interested in History, trough my Art lessons and did a bachelor in History. I became a teacher, it was cool speaking with the youth again. I had children and it was the best feeling, since my marriage. I was lucky, that somebody found me, or did i found myself ? \"</p>\n<h2>Stop talking bullshit and get to the point!</h2>\n<p>Okay, okay.</p>\n<p>We either get the meaning from somebody or we create it for ourselves. Is this simple enough ? And most of the times it is the meaning that we created, that gives the greater joy of life. There are many, many factors and details, which i promise to discuss into the future, but for now it is simply important to ask the question and understand the question. What are we going to do until we die and why are we doing it ? &nbsp;</p>\n<p>Are we going to help people, hurt them or ignore them ? Or are we going to play games, fuck like crazy and forget the day, because its simply fun ? Are we going to create a family, only because we know we must, or are we going to create one, because we want to see little versions of ourselves and love them immerse ? Do we get a job, which is boring, but pays a lot in order to buy stuff we want or do we get a job, which is so fulfilling it doesn't require us to buy other things ?&nbsp;</p>\n<p>There is no right or wrong, there is only me and you. My version of life and your version of life. But who are you ? What are you ? Why are you ?&nbsp;</p>\n<h2>What did i learn Monstroz?</h2>\nGood question dear reader! \n<p> I hope you learned that life has no inherent meaning, it is simply you who is the meaning in the world. Happiness, sadness, money, fame, gratitude, knowledge, justice, family, love... All the words are simply sounds, which you give meaning to. As long as the meaning you have given to the phenomenon life and as long as the purpose you feel and believe in produce a smile on your face and motivation to wake up, everything is going fine. If not... just ask and you will find. </p>\n<p> Thank you dear viewer for giving this post meaning! </p>\n<p> Yours truly, Monstroz.!</p> https://steemitimages.com/DQmaa3D5FGACYNNGKxDJtWrLZTY8SppP4tWaaCBcGUw3VT9/2000px-Impossible_staircase.svg.png\n<p> And don't forget. The end is just another beginning.</p>\n</html>",
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